Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Žižek on the Ukraine

Slovenian philosopher Slovoj Žižek tells an old joke about a Jew trying to emigrate from the Soviet Union and then imagines an equivalent exchange between a Ukrainian and an EU administrator:

The Ukrainian complains: ‘There are two reasons we are panicking here in Ukraine. First, we’re afraid that under Russian pressure the EU will abandon us and let our economy collapse.’ The EU administrator interrupts: ‘But you can trust us, we won’t abandon you. In fact, we’ll make sure we take charge of your country and tell you what to do!’ ‘Well,’ the Ukrainian replies, ‘that’s my second reason.’